November News from Enrichment
Hi everyone!
Mother Nature is reminding us that it's Fall in New England! Luckily we have happy helpers to help us gather up all the leaves that fall in our playground!
We LOVE seeing the books you're all reading at home! Please remember to fill out those balloons and bring them in so that we can keep a tally! If you need more, there is a basket of them at the bottom of the stairs under the "UP" bulletin board.
The month of November in Enrichment is all about friendship and being thankful! We talked this week about what it means to be thankful and things we are thankful for. This discussion further solidified my understanding of how their little bodies have very big hearts! The way we explained being thankful is something/someone you are happy to have in your life, and you would be sad if it went away. With this we started a Thankful Tree! It started empty, but as the month goes on we will add leaves that have what we are thankful for on them. When I asked the children to raise their hands to give some ideas some of the first things said were "Mom", "Dad", "My brother", "My sister", and "Pets". I almost cried! Thank you for raising such kind hearted children!
Our book this week was Waiting is Not Easy! by Mo Willams. This is a one of a series of books about Elephant and Piggie, two best friends who work their way through some difficulties that are very relatable to 4 and 5 year olds (and sometimes adults too). This one was all about how hard it is to WAIT! Waiting is so hard that sometimes we get angry or frustrated, but that in the end it's usually something worth waiting for!
A new month means LOTS of new things in the classroom!
Art table- We traced and cut out the children's handprint to look like a tree. Then each student went around the table and added their own fingerprint to each persons tree. We call these our Friendship Trees, and they're hanging in the hallway near our classroom!
Easel- These little artists LOVE painting, so this time we used sponges to paint a paper plate to look like turkey feathers!
Math table- We used spinners to find out what shape we should feed the squeezy balls! They had to squeeze a tennis ball with a slit cut in it to open it's mouth and get the shape in.
Playdough- We added playdough mats with empty trees and leafs on them to help manipulate the playdough into shapes.
Pretend center- It's time to make the DOUGHNUTS! The children are having a great time taking doughnut, coffee, and juice orders and cashing people out with felt money, wallets, and a cash register.
Block area- Car and trucks are hot ticket items in our block area. We've added a parking garage, a road mat, and bristle blocks to accompany them.
Literacy center- We're using shape magnets to make fall shapes...an acorn, a pumpkin, etc.
Writing table- Paper, pens, markers, crayons, and pre writing worksheets with lines and shapes are putting our imaginations to work!
Sensory- We've had so much fun making apple pies and apple crisp with the oats, cinnamon sticks, pretend apples, and measuring cups and spoons in our sensory table. Yummy!
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to reach out.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Warmly,
Christina Renoni and Brenda Daday
